1: to throw goods overboard from a ship or aircraft especially to lighten it in distress2: discard

How do you use it?

The company's rules on vacation and sick days were so antiquated that the new head of the human resources department decided to jettison the old system and institute new policies.

Are you a word wiz?

The word "jettison" is related to many English words. Which of the following do you think is one of them?

A. magic

B. jacket

C. geode

D. object

Feel free to jettison all choices but D! Both "jettison" and "object" can be traced back to the Latin word "jacere," meaning "to throw." The "-ject" part of "object" is the part that traces to "jacere." Most of the other words that come from "jacere" also have "-ject" in them. Some of these are common, like "inject," "reject," and "eject." Others aren't so common. "Trajectory," for instance, names the curve that something like a rocket or a planet in its orbit travels along in space. And "conjecture" refers to an opinion or judgment based on little or no evidence.